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TD Centre Plaza

APRIL 2009 | Acrylic on Canvas | 6″ x 8″

In the space between the towering skyscrapers that make up Mies van der Rohe’s TD Centre in the Toronto financial district there is a grassy plaza filled with benches, plantings and sculptures. When I used to work in the Royal Trust Tower in the late 90s this area was everyone’s lunch and break-time oasis, especially in the summer when they occasionally set up a stage and had musicians perform.

I took a panoramic photo of the plaza last summer, and while that overall picture didn’t work I was intrigued by this small pastoral bench scene in the lower corner. After finishing that long grueling Flatiron painting, I thought it would be nice to do a smaller, simpler painting. While I have a general aversion to painting people (way too difficult) I’m fairly happy with the way this one turned out for a few hours of work. This view is looking southwest, towards Wellington Street: the reddish building in the background is the Toronto Club circa 1888 [map].

Posted April 11th, 2009 at 3:24pm